Archive for the ‘Economics’ Category

With lines about to form for the new iPhone 4G, America’s largest retailer is the first to try to liquidate its stock of older models, knocking $100 off the cost of a 16GB iPhone 3GS handset as of Tuesday.

At $97 with a two-year AT&T contract, that may be the lowest price around for an iPhone. Apple sells its eight-gigabyte iPhone 3G for $99 online. The catch is you’ll have to go into a Wal-Mart store to take advantage of the $97 deal. Likely hoping shoppers will spend more money once they are lured to the chain’s sprawling shelves, the company isn’t offering the deal online.

The question is, get a 3GS now, or get a 4G in a month or so? Hmmmm.

More than two thirds of Americans who’ve been unable to sell their home and buy one that better fits their needs have cut back on household expenses such as food, entertainment and clothing in order to pay their mortgage, a survey released Tuesday shows.

Homeowners who have fallen on financial hard times have made other sacrifices and lifestyle changes: About a third have downsized to a smaller home or delayed expanding their family as planned.

Responsible homeowners do what they need to do to save their home. Believe me, I know.

Investors in February pulled an estimated $3.7 billion from U.S. stock-focused mutual funds, dashing hopes of a rebound in demand for equities, while showering $19.7 billion on taxable bond funds, according to a report from Morningstar.

After investors pulled almost $26 billion from U.S. stock funds last year, analysts thought the trend might have turned around in January, when investors added a net $2.7 billion. But the one-month inflow ended in February, fund analysts at Morningstar wrote in their latest monthly report.

Lately it’s been more take, on the part of investors. Seems the government is set in a give mode. Give, give, give, then pay for it with take, take, take.

Because the economy is doing so well…

The Federal Reserve is beginning a program to drain some of the unprecedented liquidity it added to markets during the credit crisis.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Monday it will begin conducting reverse repurchase agreements. That’s when the Fed sells securities from its portfolio with an agreement to buy them back later.

Funny, it’s that initial act of adding liquidity into the credit markets that created the mess we are in now. Thanks guys!

Anyone who thought we’d see a full return of our money, let alone make money on any of the bailout deals, was an idiot.

The Treasury Department sank billions into auto finance giant GMAC Inc. without an exit strategy or proof the company was viable — a decision that could cost taxpayers $6.3 billion, a new watchdog report says.

The government said the $17.2 billion bailout was a necessary step to save troubled automakers General Motors and Chrysler. GMAC provides critical financing to auto dealers, who borrow to finance their fleets until the cars can be sold to consumers.

Sounds great doesn’t it?

Orders to U.S. factories posted the biggest increase in four months in January, led by a surge in demand for commercial aircraft. The increase was another sign that manufacturing is helping to support the economic recovery.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that factory orders rose 1.7 percent in January, slightly below the 1.8 percent gain economists had expected. It was the best showing since a 1.8 percent advance in September.

Oh wait. There was a 118% gain in orders for commercial airplanes. It’s all making sense now.

The post office is renewing its drive to drop Saturday delivery — and plans a rate increase — in an effort to fend off a projected $7 billion loss this year.

Without drastic action the agency could face a cumulative loss of $238 billion over 10 years, Postmaster General John Potter said in releasing a series of consultant reports on agency operations and its outlook.

We don’t see our mail carrier on Saturday’s that much anyway, I thought they had already cancelled Saturday delivery.

The government now says that China did not lose its place in December as the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury debt.

The Treasury Department said that under annual benchmark revisions released Friday, China’s holdings of U.S. Treasury securities stood at $894.8 billion at the end of December, keeping it in first place ahead of Japan.

On Feb. 16, the government reported data that showed China had been surpassed by Japan. However, the government said in the new report that those figures did not account for purchases by Chinese investors in such places as Britain.

If you’re going to issue a report, shouldn’t you check all your facts before issuing the report? Why is it that the government is always “revising numbers”?

After nearly 50 years of hammering competitors with discounts, Wal-Mart is getting a taste of its own medicine.

The world’s largest retailer has seen sales at its U.S. Walmart stores fall for the first time, as price-cutting competitors lure away bargain-hunters. Department stores and dollar stores are muscling in on the company’s discount turf.

And executives do not expect much improvement in the current quarter, forecasting sales at stores open at least a year will range from down 1 percent to up 1 percent.

Yet, their profit still rose 22 percent. They’re complaining their profits are down, but they actually went up. Cry me a frickin’ river.

Analysts expected payrolls to rise by 15,000 with unemployment holding at 10%, yet there was a loss of 20,000 jobs nd the rate fell to 9.7%.

The U.S. economy lost 20,000 jobs in January, the Labor Departmentsaid Friday, defying expectations for a slim gain. But the jobless rateunexpectedly fell to 9.7% from 10% in December.

Wall Street expected nonfarm payrolls to rise by 15,000 with unemployment holding at 10%.

Stocks opened up, sold off, then staged a big rally late to end higher. The Dow rose 0.1%, the S&P 500 0.3% and the Nasdaq 0.7%.

Someone is fudging numbers. You do the math.